Preserving working class Black history

Updated November 28, 2010 – The Allen Parkway Village (APV) public housing complex sits inside the Freedman’s Town historic district here in the Fourth Ward in Houston, Texas. It was the site of a major community organizing struggle that the tenants engaged in from 1982 until 1996. We have boxes of documents related to this struggle that we will scan and post as time permits. For now we’ve posted a small sample.

Next update will tie what happened at APV back in the 1980s to the mid 1990s to the crooked business that is currently going on at the Gregory Library. Stay tuned!

Wessie Syrus and family in front of their unit in Allen Parkway Village.

Residents Council President Lenwood Johnson working in his APV unit in 1993.

Original historic documents:

The APV “Stakes in the Ground” agreement 3.22.1996 is what then Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) Secretary Henry Cisneros proposed to settle the standoff between residents and the City of Houston at APV. Lenwood Johnson, the President of the Residents Council and Cisneros signed it on March 22, 1996. Note U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee tried to horn in and take some credit even though all she did was attempt to stab the residents in the back at every turn. There was no signature block for her because she was not at the negotiating table.

$36 Million HUD grant to APV In January 1995, HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros signed over a thirty-six million dollar plus grant to the Houston Housing Authority to revitalize Allen Parkway Village. This document shows a few specifics. Note that it was the APV residents, including Wessie Cyrus, (now known as Njeri Shakur), Mary Pruitt and Lenwood Johnson that led the successful fight to save Allen Parkway.

The full text of the Rehabilitation of Allen Parkway Village Houston, TX field hearing before the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Development of the Committee of Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress, first session, Houston, TX, Tuesday December 14, 1993 is available by clicking Rehab Of APV Congressional Hearing 12.14.1993

Videos

Lenwood Johnson and Njeri Shakur discuss Texas Southern University’s failure to make late Congressman Mickey Leland’s papers available 21 years after his death:

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Tim,
All of the photos and articles are so valuable, in other words they are priceless. Thanks for putting all of the history from Freedman’s Town together and making it available to the public. I pray that they read and appreciate your work, especially the new residents of FT.

About

We are a group of concerned activists living in Freedmen’s Town. Our mission is to ensure that the history ofworking class African Americans in the City of Houston and particularly in the Freedman’s Town Historic District, are represented in the Gregory Library.

Currently the Gregory prefers to sanitize history and include only a top down version.Their top down view omits the people’s history.

Collectively we have spent 80 years living and working in Freedman’s Town to protect and preserve the history, heritage and culture of African Americans. Together we have brought over $82 million dollars into Freedman’s Town.

As our campaign moves forward we will be posting more information concerning the activities of the decision makers at the Houston Public Library System and the manager of the Gregory Library.